It is known in vehicles to provide an armrest in a door having an integrated pull cup to allow the occupant to pull the door shut. According to the known arrangement, the pull cup, typically composed of a molded plastic, is anchored to the vehicle door inner panel by a variety of stamped steel structures, the most common of which is the “L-bracket” in which the vertical portion of the bracket is attached to the inner door panel with fasteners such as screws and the horizontal portion of the bracket is attached to the underside of the pull cup with screws or clips. In addition to being anchored to the inner door panel, the pull cup is also solidly connected to the armrest substrate.
Regardless of its configuration, the primary function of the door pull cup support bracket is to transmit the force generated by the user on the door pull cup to the inner door panel to create the moment to close the door and to actuate the door latch mechanisms. The secondary function of the door pull cup support bracket is to collapse or deflect when loaded by a side impact in a manner which assists in door trim system compliance.
The known approach to anchoring the pull cup to both the vehicle door inner panel with the traditional L-bracket as well as the armrest substrate provides a good degree of lateral door function to the vehicle occupant while opening and, particularly, closing the door. However, as in so many areas of vehicle technology, there is room in the art of vehicle interior door design for an alternative configuration to known pull cup support structures which, upon vehicle inward movement of the outer door panel during a side impact, will minimize or eliminate the transfer of forces to the occupant.